Improve And Grow Your Communication Style With Your Birth Chart's Third House

Known as the House of Communication, the third house is the place where, after we understand who we are and our sense of the world around us in the first and second houses in our birth chart, we branch out to connect with others. Communication is naturally how we connect with others, where we can recognize our thoughts and feelings and express them. And yet despite this universal act, communication looks different to everybody. Consider how even planets and animals interact with each other; communication is nuanced. Perhaps you are a fluid and charismatic speaker, able to easily articulate your thoughts to others. Perhaps you're more reserved and prefer to disclose simply the need-to-know details to those around you. Perhaps instead, you feel you can best express yourself through some kind of creative project, rather than verbalizing how you feel. 

Understanding the way you best communicate can assist you in both being heard by others in the way you want to be heard, and in clarifying what expression feels the most authentic to you. We need good communication skills to have successful relationships, both romantic and platonic, to have thriving careers, and to be able to articulate our personal goals. Communication is a skill that can be learned and honed over time, and astrology is a fantastic way to understand both how you communicate, and how you can refine your communication. 

The planet with domain over all things communication, Mercury aptly rules the third house. Everything from our thought processes to our ability to rationalize (or not) falls under Mercury's grasp. With the understanding that communication is a conduit that allows us to connect, Mercury is not associated with masculine or feminine archetypes that define other planets such as Venus or Mars. Instead, Mercury is a planet that makes space for all of the malleability of thinking and communication that humans are capable of, leaving many possibilities open when it comes to how the third house in our charts manifests for us all. 

Mercury might be best known for its frequent retrogrades — around three per year — where communication, planning, traveling, and our technology tends to go a bit askew. But Mercury in retrograde can allow for constructive revision, giving us a chance to revisit the ways our communication is or is not working on both a personal and structural level. Should you have Mercury in your natal third house, you might acutely feel such retrogrades. However, you are probably a skillful communicator because of it, where you have honed your communication skills to precision over and over again. 

Gemini is the sign that rules the third house under the influence of Mercury. An air sign, Gemini is known for being intellectual and social, two of Mercury's most important values. Gemini is also symbolized by a set of twins, which can have many interpretations. Have you ever heard the adage, two heads are better than one? On a literal level, two people are needed for communication to happen, where dialogue creates new ideas, and helps both people learn. But, on a more figurative level, the twins could symbolize the intrinsic connection between the world within ourselves, and the world outside of ourselves, where the two tend to mirror and interact with each other. 

Gemini is also a mutable sign. Mutable signs are comfortable adapting to new information, potentially causing them to change their minds or actions as a result, much like the malleable energy of Mercury. Should you have any air signs in your third house, which are known for love of fresh ideas, you might be particularly partial to the influence of Mercury with a passion for intellectual pursuits. Those with fixed signs in the third house, however, might prefer to completely think through new ideas instead of jumping into them. They might also prefer to communicate through action, or with their hands, rather than with words. And those with cardinal signs in the third house might feel particularly confident in their ideas, preferring direct communication.